What is Italia Startup Hub?

Since 2012, when the ground-breaking Italian Startup Act was set into law, the Italian Government has put forward an intense policy action for bolstering the innovative entrepreneurship ecosystem of the country. And the strategy is paying off: more than 5,000 new firms benefit from significant cuts to red tape, tailor-made regulations, smoother access to debt and equity financing, and much more.

A key part of it, the Italia Startup Visa policy, aims at making Italy a hub for investment and talent from all over the world. ISV makes easier for non-EU entrepreneurs to move to Italy, if they want to establish an innovative startup, bringing about a drastic simplification of the standard rules for the issuance of self-employment visas.

Italia Startup Hub is an attempt to go further. Its motive comes from a simple observation: many of the foreign talents our policies are trying to attract are already in the country. They are studying in our high-quality universities, they are trainees or employed in a different sector – or they came because a relative moved to Italy long ago.

Before ISH, in most cases, aspiring innovative entrepreneurs had to undergo a long and uncertain process, which often required them to come back to their countries of origin. With ISH, this is no longer the case. The streamlined procedure already enjoyed by ISV applicants is extended to residence permit holders, who can now receive an authorisation to get a new one for self-employment in a startup in no more than 20 days – and with no need to leave Italy at any time.

For us, retaining the bright minds that already came over is as important as attracting new ones. So, if you believe that moving to Italy was a good idea, we’d love to see more of your ideas at work!